Jan. 31, 2024

Prof. David Gamage to Testify before Vermont House Committee

Professor David Gamage, the Law School Foundation Distinguished Professor of Tax Law and Policy, will testify via Zoom on Jan. 31 before the Vermont House Committee of Ways and Means on a tax reform proposal that he and coauthors Brian Galle and Darien Shanske designed. The New York Times wrote about this proposed Vermont “wealth tax” reform earlier in January: click here to read that story. This is the latest state wealth tax or mark-to-market reform proposal that Prof. Gamage and his coauthors have designed and drafted, following earlier proposals for California, Illinois, New York, and Washington State.

Jan. 30, 2024

Prof. Gary Myers Publishes on AI and Transformative Use

Gary Myers, the Earl F. Nelson Professor of Law at Mizzou Law, has published a new article on Artificial Intelligence. His paper, “Artificial Intelligence and Transformative Use After Warhol,” was published in Washington & Lee Law Review. Prof. Myers’ article evaluates the interaction between copyright law’s fair use doctrine and typical sources and uses for artificial intelligence.The article will assesses whether or not the use of copyrighted material to “train” AI programs—AI inputs—and the products of AI programs—AI outputs—are likely to found to be transformative in light of the Warhol framework. To view the full article, visit: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1165&context=wlulr-online…

Jan. 19, 2024

Professor David Gamage Joins Mizzou Law Faculty

Officials at the University of Missouri School of Law are excited to announce Professor David Gamage has joined Mizzou Law, starting this January as the Law School Foundation Distinguished Professor of Tax Law & Policy. Professor Gamage joins Mizzou Law from Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law, where he held the William W. Oliver Chair in Tax Law. Professor Gamage’s hire is a part of the MizzouForward program, an ongoing effort to strengthen innovation in research disciplines across the Mizzou campus. “David Gamage is a transformational hire for Mizzou Law,” said Paul Litton, dean of the MU School…

Jan. 11, 2024

Dean Sperino Cited in Eleventh Circuit Opinion

Associate Dean Sandra Sperino’s article, Rethinking Discrimination Law, 110 Mich. L. Rev. 69 (2011), was cited in a concurring opinion by Judge Newsom of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The case is Tynes v. Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, 88 4th 939 (2023). Judge Newsom advocates for the abolition of the McDonnell Douglas test, a burden-shifting framework courts use to analyze discrimination claims. Professor Sperino is an expert in McDonnell Douglas, writing numerous articles and a book on the topic. 

Jan. 3, 2024

Prof. Andrea Boyack writes in Bloomberg Law about her forthcoming publication

In a newly published piece in Bloomberg Law, Mizzou Law’s Andrea Boyack suggests a new framework for consumer contracts that prioritizes consumers’ agency over a blind agreement to a company’s boilerplate terms. “Companies have long claimed that their online boilerplates must be afforded contractual status, or else the world of commerce would be thrown into chaos. This is absurd. In the context of business-to-business transactions, the law rejects the need to adopt one party’s standard form as the parties’ contract.” To read the full piece, visit: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/consumer-contracts-must-be-based-on-real-agreement-not-clicks

Dec. 6, 2023

Dean Sperino Quoted in Bloomberg Law

Sandra Sperino, associate dean and Elwood L. Thomas Endowed Professor of Law, was quoted in Bloomberg Law about oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court on a work discrimination case. Narrowing the issue leaves out biased employer decisions on topics like when and where employees work, which job functions they’re required to perform, and discipline that doesn’t immediately result in docked pay or other serious consequences, said Sandra Sperino, a discrimination law professor at the University of Missouri. But it also eliminates the need for the justices to define what’s the most minimal conduct that would cross the…

Nov. 27, 2023

MU law professor pushes to redefine modern contracts, advocate for consumer protections

By Courtney Perrett, Show Me Mizzou Whether you’re subscribing to a dating app, getting a gym membership, visiting a website or purchasing a product, you’re probably entering into a consumer contract. As widely used as these agreements are, people rarely read, understand, or know the content of them. Although there are some government regulations, contract law generally treats online “terms as conditions” to be binding contracts for people who agree to buy, subscribe, borrower, join, or download. In her forthcoming article, The Shape of Consumer Contracts, Andrea Boyack, the Floyd R. Gibson Endowed Professor of Law, says that people’s…

Nov. 17, 2023

Mizzou Law Professors Quoted in ABA Journal

Mizzou Law professors Ben Trachtenberg and Richard Reuben were recently quoted in an ABA Journal article covering a recently disbarred Missouri attorney. Their quotes address ethical and legal questions surrounding the case of an attorney who broke local statute by remaining on a city council while no longer living within that municipality. “Not every lie is going to get a lawyer in trouble. There’s ordinary dishonesty, like telling your children there’s a Santa Claus, and then there’s deeper deceit, such as defrauding the public. That kind of deceit can get you in trouble even when you are acting…

Nov. 15, 2023

Professor David English Named to the Estate Planning Hall of Fame

David English, the William F. Fratcher Missouri Endowed Professor and the Edward L. Jenkins Professor of Law at Mizzou Law, was named to the Estate Planning Hall of Fame in a special ceremony on Nov. 14. Professor English is one of only seven estate planning professionals to receive this prestigious award in 2023, which is given annually in recognition of lifetime achievement and outstanding contributions to the practice and profession of estate planning within the professional disciplines of academia, accounting, insurance and financial planning, law, philanthropy, and trust services. The Estate Planning Hall of Fame is hosted by the…

Oct. 4, 2023

Professor Boyack Publishes Casebook on Real Estate Transactions

Professor Andrea Boyack joins with Professors Jim Kelly (Notre Dame), Robin Paul Malloy (Syracuse) and Jim Smith (Georgia) in authoring the 6th edition of one of the nation’s most popular real estate law casebooks: Real Estate Transactions: Problems, Cases and Materials (Aspen 2023). This casebook is concise and user friendly, providing students with the tools necessary to understand real estate transactions in a real-world market setting. It covers many real property and contract law materials tested on the Bar Exam and includes multiple practice applications in every chapter provide bridge to “real world” law practice and preparation for assessments…